The Newport News Shipbuilding yard began building the class ship in 1956 . The Santa Rosa was delivered on June 12, 1958, the second ship followed on October 9 of the same year, the Santa Paula . The fully air-conditioned living structures of the combi-ships were characterized by fire-retardant aluminum wall cladding, and stabilizers prevented seasickness on board. Four cargo holds were available for cargo transport, and their fast loading gear was supplemented by side gates and cargo conveyor belts in rooms 3 and 4. Both units were used by the US shipping company Grace Line on their freight and passenger liner service between the United States, the ports of the Caribbean and South America. In 1969 the Grace Line merged into the Prudential Lines, which from then on traded as Prudential-Grace Lines. Against the background of the relatively expensive operation under the American flag, the high fuel consumption and the rapidly increasing air travel in South American traffic since the early 1960s, the two ships could no longer be operated economically after 13 years of service, after which the ships in January 1971 in Hampton Roads , Virginia.
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While the Santa Paula was later sold, was used as a hotel ship in Kuwait from 1978 and was destroyed in Kuwait during the attack on Iraq in 1991 , the Santa Rosa lay in the United States for around two decades before being towed into a cruise ship to Greece in 1992 for conversion . As Regent Rainbow , the ship drove for the Regency Cruise Line shipping company. When converting to a cruise ship, the geared turbine system remained in the ship, which turned out to be disadvantageous for the operator due to the high fuel consumption. The ship remained in service until the Regency Cruise Line went bankrupt in 2000, after which it was taken over by the cruise line Thomson Cruises and renamed Emerald . It later sailed as The Emerald for Louis Cruise Lines in Piraeus.
The ship, which complied with the SOLAS regulations that came into force in 2010, has been docked in Venice since 2009 and was for sale. In August 2012 it was sold to India for demolition.
